


From the Sea

by kunstvogel



Category: Boardwalk Empire
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff Bingo 2019, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Nightmares, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 12:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17867348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kunstvogel/pseuds/kunstvogel
Summary: Gillian dreams. Roy is there to comfort her.





	From the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by Gillian’s monologue to Louis in 2x03. She deserved better, dammit! Happens the night before they go out on the boardwalk together in 4x09.
> 
> Written for [Fluff Bingo](https://fluffbingo.dreamwidth.org/).

Gillian looks out over the New Jersey shore and smiles. It’s beautiful out, today- the sun is high and the sky is a clear, crisp blue, the Atlantic spread out before her in shades of turquoise and white where the foam washes up rhythmically against the shore. Gillian walks out into the water until her feet barely touch the sand, then starts to swim, wading through the water.

She gets far enough out that she can’t hear the crowds on the shore, or the bustle of the city, and lets herself fall still, floating on the surface of the water and relaxing.

It’s then that she feels the water cooling, the sun no longer on her skin. When she looks up at the sky she sees storm clouds above her, nearly black and rumbling with thunder. She turns around, trying to swim back to shore, but the waves are roiling now, crashing around her, and she realizes the current has pulled her miles away from the shore.

“Help me!” she cries, but her young voice is drowned in the crash of the waves, the loud roar of rain as it pelts down on her fragile skin and the water around her. She’s pulled under, and she instinctively opens her mouth to breathe, but her lungs fill with water and she chokes, suffocating. She sinks into the water, the pressure of it above her growing unbearable, and she closes her eyes and wishes for it to be over.

When she opens her eyes again she sees Louis Kaestner above her, his eyes glinting with excitement in the dim light of the room, a clammy hand pressed hard over her mouth.

Gillian startles awake, gasping. She feels ill, her stomach and chest tight and painful, and she sits up. She’s still struggling to calm down when she hears Roy stir awake beside her. His hand comes to rest on her thigh and she looks down at him.

“You’re crying,” he says, voice gravelly with sleep. He looks surprised, and tentative.

Gillian wipes her eyes, brushing away the tears she finds there, and feels loathe to say anything. She looks away, knowing she will have to tell him eventually. But now she wants only for comfort.

“Just...hold me,” she says quietly. “Please.”

“Okay,” Roy murmurs, and she slides back down on the bed and into his arms. His hand comes to rest on her back, holding her close, like an anchor.

“I really should sell this house,” she murmurs into Roy’s chest. “Too many memories here.”

“Where will you go?” Roy asks, and Gillian considers.

“West, maybe,” she says. “I’d like to see the back of New Jersey. I’ve never been anywhere else.”

“I hear California is nice,” Roy says, kissing Gillian’s forehead. “Sunshine, beaches. Plenty to keep busy with.”

“Hollywood,” Gillian says, sounding thoughtful. “I used to go on stage,” she murmurs.

“You needn’t work,” Roy says. “If you don’t want to.”

Gillian smiles, blushing. “I’d get bored. I’m no housewife.” She looks up at Roy. “Would you marry me?”

Roy blinks, his lips parting. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes.” Gillian smiles, feeling shy. Roy’s eyes are warm, glimmering in the faint light.

“Of course I would,” he says against her lips. He kisses her, as if sealing a promise.

When she sleeps, Gillian dreams again of the sea- but not the Atlantic.


End file.
